This proposal requests funds for a pre-doctoral training program in disease oriented basic neuroscience with an emphasis on aging and age-related neurological disorders. We are requesting support for five pre-doctoral trainees. The program is designed to offer PhD students rigorous and specialized training in the neurobiology of aging and age-related neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and stroke. The Graduate Program in Neuroscience at Rush University Medical Center is one of the few programs in the country that offers training in disease oriented basic neuroscience; it is housed in the Department of Neurological Sciences, a department where a large number of basic scientists and clinicians work very closely together on translational research. Preceptors for the proposed pre-doctoral training program include 11 basic scientists with well funded research programs and a long-standing commitment to aging research; their expertise ranges all the way from molecular and structural biology to electrophysiology, imaging and behavior. Additional teaching faculty include other basic scientists and clinicians in the Department of Neurological Sciences, as well as members of other divisions within the Graduate College of Rush University Medical Center. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This training program is one of the few in the country offering pre-doctoral training in disease oriented basic neuroscience. By being exposed to basic scientists and clinicians who work very closely together in the same department, our trainees receive knowledge important for the understanding of age-related neurodegenerative diseases. Scientists with this kind of training will be able to carry out research that in the future could lead to prevention or even cure of these diseases.